<p>Since the rising Junior appear to be emerging again, I thought I would put down a few things we observed about Miami in our research. Our son will be starting at Miami in the Fall, in the University Honors program, and chose Miami over Washington University in St. Louis and Case Western, where he was also accepted. The following are not in any order, but should reflect what we observed in the process.</p>
<li><p>Size – Originally, we were leery of Miami as being too big. Son didn’t want a huge university. However, after visiting, that fear went away immediately. It has the feel and look of a small liberal arts college, but the resources of a large university in terms of course offerings, facilities, etc. In contrast, Case was a very small school that had a feeling of being much larger.</p></li>
<li><p>Facilities – Looking at the dorms, the eating facilities, the athletic venues, etc., you can’t help but be impressed. They are top notch, and more are on the way.</p></li>
<li><p>Academics – Miami has an outstanding academic reputation (it is a “Public Ivy”), a wide spectrum of majors, self-designed majors, and a great student-faculty ratio. The weighting systems used by most college ranking services tend to bypass mid-sized publics like Miami. Miami also has a top graduation rate and excellent grad school admission stats.</p></li>
<li><p>Responsiveness – We have been treated incredibly by the people at Miami. My wife took our son for his first visit. He wanted to meet the Band Director, but he was unavailable. The admissions person apologized profusely and gave us his home number! On our second visit, we met with professors in the Life Sciences and International Relations areas, who literally spent hours with him. The Band Director spent an hour with him and invited us to rehearsal. This weekend, he is attending an Honors overnight, getting to go to some classes, and spend some more time in the band area. There is an extended orientation session in May/June for both parents and students, and more orientation when they arrive on campus in the fall. All of our questions have been quickly answered, things arrive when promised, and everything is crystal clear.</p></li>
<li><p>Atmosphere – The Miami campus and Oxford are really what Hollywood would use if portraying a small New England college. The campus does not have a hectic feel to it. Despite the “J. Crew U” reputation, I thought that the students were dressed very much as we dressed in my day – jeans/khakis, university logo sweatshirt/polo/T Shirt. </p></li>
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<p>Just some things to consider when selecting your colleges.</p>